Chapter 2.7, Problem 3C

When an average-sized person walks at a fairly brisk pace, he or she can burn about 100 calories in one mile. A standard weight-loss rule of thumb is that you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of body fat. How many miles would you have to walk per day to lose one pound in one week?

Step 1: Understand the problem. Write down the relevant information provided in the problem.

a. How many calories are burned per mile?

b. How many calories do we need to burn in a week?

Identify what we’re asked to find.

c. What exactly did the problem ask us to find?

Step 2: Devise a plan. Since we know that we need to burn 3,500 calories in a week, we can calculate how many we need to burn in one day. Then we can use that amount to figure out how many miles we’d need to walk (given that we burn 100 calories per mile).

Step 3: Carry out the plan.

d. At 3,500 calories per week, how many would we need to burn in one day?

e. At 100 calories per mile, how many miles would we need to cover to burn the number of calories found in part d?

Step 4: Check the answer.

f. With the number of miles you found in part e, how many calories would we burn in one day? In one week? Have you solved the problem correctly?